He was swallowed by arrogance, stubbornness and hypocrisy. Jim Tressel was an iconic coach, but it's clear now his integrity was a closely guarded fraud.

Ohio State is in huge trouble, and make no mistake about it — this is a gigantic opportunity for Michigan and first-year coach Brady Hoke. Same thing for Michigan State and Mark Dantonio. And if Tressel really was cheating and lying and covering up as much as alleged, every football program in the Big Ten deserves a chance to revel and recoup.

The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry will survive this. It endured Rodriguez and his mini-NCAA scandal, and it survived John Cooper. But it's about to undergo a dramatic makeover, and if Hoke recruits well in talent-rich Ohio during the Buckeyes uncertainty, look out.

Just five years ago, Tressel and Lloyd Carr squared off in Columbus with unbeaten teams, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country. The Buckeyes won 42-39 and the Wolverines haven't been the same since. College football can be fickle, and now the Buckeyes will find out under interim coach Luke Fickell.

Columbus is a uniquely pressure-soaked, beer-stoked place. Counting Tressel, every Ohio State coach since World War II has left the school ingloriously, low-lighted by Woody Hayes' firing after he punched a Clemson player in the 1978 Gator Bowl. It's part of the college football cauldron, and while Ohio State tried to pretend it wasn't like the SEC, it's hard to say that now.

I've celebrated the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry forever, and also mocked the Buckeye fandom's over-the-top passion. Some of that was in fun, some was out of respect, and some was a legitimate concern those people are out of control. It's not so funny now.

The Big Buckeye Bully is wobbling. It's too bad the Wolverines and Spartans couldn't knock Tressel out themselves, but no sense quibbling or reveling. See the opportunity and seize it, because one program's misery almost always becomes someone else's gain.

"Michigan man or woman. To me, it's a great love for the University of Michigan. There's a selflessness there. It's what can you do for the University of Michigan, not what the Universtiy of Michigan can do for you." JH

I still think Tressel is legitimately a good guy on a personal level but probably got caught up in trying to rehabilitate all of his players to the point that he covered up things to still make it appear that everyone was buying into his by-the-books philosophy

Yeah I do think that Tressel was probably just trying to cover up for players he cared about. Obviously he got way wrapped up into it, but for now, he hasn't been shown to do anything more than turn a blind eye

I bet you think that Dantonio is really a sturn disciplinarian who just had a couple "off days". Also, that GERG is a defensive genius who managed to over-genius the scemes. And that Charlie Weiss is actually a thin guy and that its all water weight. How 'bout that Roseanne is hot, but the lighting is just not flattering?

But I believe Tressel is when it comes to deception... That man totally owns that simple, "I didn't do anything", that 10 year olds love to pull... It's all too much when you think of it in a simple state... Until a man takes responsibility, in my mind, he's not a man at all... I'm not a fan of people trying to be "tricky"... But that's just my opinion based on my observations, like I said, I'm no expert...

That's asinine. He sold his church values and conservative look while he continued to cheat on a regular basis. It was the same mode of operations he used at Youngstown State; he merely upgraded it when he reached the bigtime.

When your three most high profile athletes get investigated, you're doing something wrong. When your star qb has a "mentor" and changes cars more often than he changes underwear, you should know about it-unless you choose not to.

When you finally become aware of improprieties and share them only with that mentor, then you're complicit in the whole sordid mess. He was a con man and as long as the results were to the liking of the mullet wearing truckdrivers of C-bus, no one would ever complain. No spin can change the fact that he didn't make "one mistake"-rather he demonstrated a pattern of disrespect for the rules he supposedly held so dear.